Radeon HD 4870 X2: Four Cards Compared

[cleeve]

Wow, lots of information there, Tino. Nice!

 

[Guest]

Not only do we have four super-fast Radeon HD 4870 X2s to test, but also a list of 31 other graphics configurations including CrossFire and SLI setups. If you're in the market for AMD's fastest card available, you'll want to see this.

Radeon HD 4870 X2: Four Cards Compared : Read more

 

[neiroatopelcc]

"Because of accessories and price, Sapphire is our best-buy recommendation."
One slight warning about sapphire though. If you have problems, don't expect their support team to help you before you've solved the problem yourself!

I made a ticket regarding some issues with my 4870 on august 7th, and received a reply on the 26th of september! That's 46 days to address an error they simply stated would go away with a bios upgrade from their homepage!

As for the article, I actually liked the detailed driver errors they encountered. Not that I liked the errors themselves, but I liked them being explained. Usually you just read 'after spending some hours resolving driver errors ....' without getting any wiser.

 

[Pei-chen]

Wow, AMD cards consume power like a Detroit SUV. I like Nvidia GTX 2xx series’ Toyota Prius like efficiency at idle.

 

[ilovebarny]

Why didnt they use the GTX260 Core 216? its like way better than the regular GTX260. And i just read yesterday that Nvidia was only going to make GTX260 Core 216 now. http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10497&Itemid=1

 

[ilovebarny]

And i wish they had SLI'ed the 9800GTX+.

 

[Chizops]

Why didn't they try using core i7 (extreme maybe)

 

[enforcer22]

[citation][nom]Pei-chen[/nom]Wow, AMD cards consume power like a Detroit SUV. I like Nvidia GTX 2xx series’ Toyota Prius like efficiency at idle.[/citation]


Hmm your right. Power house vs crippled mouse.. yeah your analagy sucked im sure mine did to but all i saw from what you typed was i like weak stuff dont give me more power.

 

[bdollar]

seems to me if you are going to be comparing the highest end cards and even crossfire them for 4x you would have the highest resolution as one of the options. i would think people considering going x2 in crossfire would consider a 30" screen.

don't get me wrong, i liked the article but would have liked to have seen the resolution spectrum hit the top.

 

[Guest]

It's nice to see the 9800GX2 included in the tests. I was considering the 4870x2 due to all the rave reviews but they never had the comparison like this against my current 9800GX2. I won't be getting new card anytime soon it seems. Thanks.

 

[cleeve]

Wow, tons of info there, Tino. Nicely done!

 

[marcolau]

neiroatopelcc is right , shappire support is non existent.

I bought a 2900 xt more than a year ago , on the box in huge letters the pomise for the blax box ( games from steam ) , well where are they ?

I am still waiting , i sent them an email but after a month no reply .

Good way to show how u care about your customers Shapphire and even better way to lose them.

now for 8 bucks difference i bought a Asus 4870 , i had a nice bag for cd software and games and i had them soon .

Bye Bye Shappire
So no more shappire , asus all the way

 

[dirtmountain]

Well done, great information.

 

[marcolau]

ah i forgot to mention it , i also get a slightly overclocked card with no warranty issues

 

[scryer_360]

Wasn't there a comparison using Phenom, Yorkdale and Nehalem chips just a few weeks ago where dual and tri-sli GTX 280 cards were clearly superior to the 4870 X2 in single card and dual card (that is, one 4870 X2 and two 4870 X2s) configurations? What gives here where suddenly the 9800 GX2 is a powerful card again and the GTX 280 is presented as nothing but terrible?

Eh? These charts do not make sense either, we're getting a 9800 GX2 seemingly more powerful than a GTX 280 in here.

Was is das? Ich bin TERRIBLY CONFUSED.

 

[bounty]

Basically except for a few games, new cards are pointless. In the last round Nvidia made cards that still don't play crysis well, but you may have gone from 100 to 130 fps in some other game (but it doesn't matter). And AMD caught up.

If it's CPU's that are the problem, then damnit, game developers seriously need to find some better multithreading optimizations.

 

[BlakHart]

my 1gb 4870 is always left out lol

 

[hellwig]

[citation][nom]Scryer_360[/nom]Wasn't there a comparison using Phenom, Yorkdale and Nehalem chips just a few weeks ago where dual and tri-sli GTX 280 cards were clearly superior to the 4870 X2 in single card and dual card (that is, one 4870 X2 and two 4870 X2s) configurations? What gives here where suddenly the 9800 GX2 is a powerful card again and the GTX 280 is presented as nothing but terrible?Eh? These charts do not make sense either, we're getting a 9800 GX2 seemingly more powerful than a GTX 280 in here.Was is das? Ich bin TERRIBLY CONFUSED.[/citation]


My thoughts too, their Best Video Card list from November had:

1) 4870 X2
2) GTX 280
3) 9800 GX2, GTX 260, 4870

But now the 9800 GX2 is superior/equal to a 4870 X2?

 

[slomo4sho]

I highly appreciate the "fps per watts" chart.

Seems the bottom line still is that everything past the 9800 GTX+ or 4850 is basically overkill for most 1680x1050 game play with the obvious exception being Crysis(this game is just coded poorly). Anything over 30 fps will hardly be noticable to the human eye so there really is no sense in buying a card that consumes 150 extra watts of power and costs $300 more so you can have 100+ fps.

 

[dagger]

[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]My thoughts too, their Best Video Card list from November had:1) 4870 X22) GTX 2803) 9800 GX2, GTX 260, 4870But now the 9800 GX2 is superior/equal to a 4870 X2?[/citation]

That's only true in some games. Different engines handle different cards differently. Remember, 9800gx2's g92 is identical to that of a 9800gtx, single 4870 outperform 9800gtx by 20-30%, cf/sli/x2 depends highly on driver optimizations, 9800gx2 already has mature drivers, which means more efficient operations, smaller gap against 4870x2 overall, and outperforming it in a few games. 4870x2 will improve over time.

As for 9800gx2 outperforming gtx280, that has always been true. It's just few people realize it. Gtx280 cost $420, 9800gx2 $275. Nvidia's hype machine focus on current cash cow.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=15
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=16
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=17
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=18
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=19

 

[Arbie]

Regarding the problems with the ASUS "SmartDoctor" Windows utility, my experience is the same as most people report: NEVER install an ASUS Windows app. They usually combine negligible functionality with a huge increase in problems. The only exception I've found is their PCProbe II which works well with their own motherboards. You can learn the easy way or the hard way on this. BTW I love my HD 4850.

 

[Lurker87]

[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]My thoughts too, their Best Video Card list from November had:1) 4870 X22) GTX 2803) 9800 GX2, GTX 260, 4870But now the 9800 GX2 is superior/equal to a 4870 X2?[/citation]

Indeed. Perhaps I'll just have to wait even longer and see how Nehalem setups end up doing with multiple variations before deciding the route to go. 9800 GX2 was completely off my radar from the numbers I was seeing in all past comparisons, and now this article is showing the 9800 GX2 as an absolute beast (when AA is not involved). We're talking hundreds of dollars for perhaps an "inferior" 4870x2. I think I'll wait to see more until the beginning of next year.

 

[boostercorp]

i own 2 gaming rigs,

one used to have 2 9800GX2's installed
but i sold those and putt in 3 gtx 280's (mine)

and the otherone has 2 asus 4870x2 installed (my brothers)

both have the same asus striker II extreme mobo installed,
the same 8 gb of 1800mhz sli compatible memory
and the same intel core 2 duo E 8600 cpu
and my nvidia based rig always smokes my brothers rig ...

it even did it with the two 9800GX2's installed the amd based rig had no reply to my rig.
now how do you explain this ???

only difference is that my rig is running a little hotter, and yet no overclock

 

[Pei-chen]

[citation][nom]EnFoRceR22[/nom]Hmm your right. Power house vs crippled mouse.. yeah your analagy sucked im sure mine did to but all i saw from what you typed was i like weak stuff dont give me more power.[/citation]
Unless you are a fat as a cow you don't need a power house SUV to move your ass.

It seems that people don’t care their 4870 X2 cost $100 more per year to run over GTX 280/260.

 

[cobra420]

so then installing the ccc 8.11 will fix the problem im having with my 4850 and the smart doctor ?